Dubai Airport Expansion on Track as Emirates Adds A380s

An Emirates Airline Airbus A380-800 aircraft is seen on the tarmac outside terminal 3 at concourse A, the new A380 terminal at Dubai International Airport in Dubai. Photographer: Gabriela Maj/Bloomberg

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai International Airport is
working to increase capacity to help accommodate more of the
Airbus SAS A380 super-jumbo for Emirates, the largest operator
of the double-decker jet, the airline’s chairman said.

“We are going according to plan to accommodate all
A380s,” he said in Dubai. “Hopefully within one year from now
we would be No. 1.”

Dubai International Airport has boosted traffic to about
57.7 million passengers in 2012, putting it on a path to match
London Heathrow by the end of 2013. The airport opened a
concourse this year dedicated specifically to the A380 double
decker, of which Emirates has ordered 90 units in total.

To fund delivery of aircraft in the financial year starting
April 2014, Emirates has said it will need $4.5 billion, and may
consider issuing bonds or sukuk as one option to raise some of
that money depending on the market conditions.

“Whenever the market is good, when we need to go to the
market we will go,” Sheikh Ahmed said. “It’s not desperate
times, but if it’s the right time, why not?”

Emirates, which introduced an executive jet service last
month with an Airbus A319, will decide after a year if it needs
more aircraft for this segment of the business, he said, calling
it an “experiment program” for the company.

Sheikh Ahmed said that the Boeing 777X is an “excellent
aircraft, though given that it may only come as late as 2020,
Emirates ‘‘always leave the door open for both options: Airbus
and Boeing.’’